Political Deadend

CTU Playing Same Old Political Game
By Jim Vail



The political game is rigged.

The unions can barely play this rigged game when it's all about the money.

If you have the money, you call the shots, and determine who gets elected.

Therefore, the millionaires and billionaires are winning at this game because they have all the money.

The CTU which re-elected a reform leadership called CORE is trying to play the same game its predecessor the UPC played, and its parent union the AFT is playing on the national level.

Feed the politicians money, no matter how much damage they are inflicting on us, because we need access to power.

Big business - which controls the political arena - do not like unions representing workers rights and giving them a far share in compensation. 

It's all about maximizing profit, which means squeezing the workers.

The fact is the unions think they have to play this ugly game with the politicians to hold on to the little they have, even though it gets eroded every year.  

The UPC followed by PACT would write out $10,000 checks to Mayor Daley before, even though the mayor did all he could to destroy the CTU via privatization and union busting. 

So the CTU plans to play the same old game of giving the democrats money so they don't hurt us. They also want to placate those who thought they elected a force to fight the system by claiming they will organize an independent political organization.  However, there are no specifics and the CTU says this will take a long time. 

Karen Lewis states:  "We are launching our Political Action Campaign in order to change the political landscape in the city and the state.  Our new PAC campaign will not only provide donations to elected officials, it will fund the cornerstone of our vote education drive, our member lobbying support and our focus on our future. Will this campaign unite us, make us stronger and build our power? Yes it will."

One of the keys to making this lofty campaign work among the teachers will be honesty.  The UPC used to distribute to delegates a paper stating which politicians were endorsed and how much money the CTU gave them.

Delegates are requesting the same from the CTU today.